!!Literature Trivia* AdaptationOverdosed: The novels became movies, comics, radio plays and video games.* CreatorBreakdown: Fleming was notable for being a ''very'' heavy smoker and drinker, both which killed him at the age of 56. Interestingly, he seems to have noted the toll his addiction was taking on him throughout the Blofeld Trilogy. ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}'' opens with Bond failing a medical (a thinly veiled copy of Fleming's own) and being sent to a health farm (something that Fleming himself was ordered by his doctor to do). He later tells Moneypenny "I would rather die of drink than of thirst" which was reputedly a favorite line of Fleming's to anyone who told him to stop drinking. By ''Literature/OnHerMajestysSecretService'', Bond admits that he ''needs'' three drinks for every one that Tracy drinks, and confesses to having tried and failed multiple times to quit the mountainous amount of cigarettes that he gets through (according to friends, this was a fair piece of self-reflection by Fleming). And ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' shows Bond as a depressed, drunken shadow of a man due to [[spoiler: Tracy's death.]]* OutlivedItsCreator: Even after Ian Fleming died more Bond novels were written. Not to mention films with original stories.* ThrowItIn: ** Bond originally drove a Bentley, which was destroyed in ''Literature/{{Moonraker}}''. As Creator/IanFleming was working on ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}'', he received a letter saying "I hope you have the decency to fix Bond up with a decent bit of machinery - I would suggest an Aston Martin". The Aston went on to become ''the'' iconic Bond car.** He switched Bond's WeaponOfChoice from a somewhat underpowered .25ACP Beretta to the iconic Walther PPK in similar circumstances, even partially basing the initial characterisation of Q on the author of the letter.** Fleming was also impressed enough by Creator/SeanConnery's performance in the movies that he made Bond canonically Scottish.* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ** Fleming was originally going to kill off Felix Leiter in ''Literature/LiveAndLetDie'', but he was talked out of it.** The Climax! TV special adaptation of ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'' lead to Ian Fleming being offered a hand in developing a Bond TV series (Working title: ''James Bond, Secret Agent''). Fleming wrote a series of outlines for the show but negotiations fell through and it didn't get made. However, Fleming salvaged the outlines and used them to create the eighth Bond novel, ''Literature/ForYourEyesOnly''.** ''Per Fine Ounce'' by Geoffrey Jenkins was supposed to be the first ''Bond'' continuation novel after Fleming's death. It was rejected for publication, and, aside from few excerpts, remains unpublished to this day.** After writing ''Literature/ColonelSun'', Kingsley Amis planned to write a ''Bond'' novel of him in a train to Mexico with assassins in it.* WriteWhatYouKnow: Since Fleming had a beach home in Jamaica and wrote all ''Bond'' novels there, he had Bond go to the island on three occasions.

!!Film Trivia* AFIS100YearsSeries:** AFIS100Years100Thrills: #71, ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''** AFIS100Years100HeroesAndVillains:*** #3 Hero, James Bond*** #49 Villain, Auric Goldfinger of ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''** AFIS100Years100Songs:*** #53, "Goldfinger", from ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''*** #67, "Nobody Does It Better", from ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''** AFIS100Years100MovieQuotes:*** #22, "Bond. James Bond", from ''Film/DrNo'', etc.*** #90, "A martini. Shaken, not stirred", from ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''* AwesomeDearBoy: Often the reason why actors and musicians accept to take part in a Bond film.* BeamMeUpScotty: The infamous "Oh, ''James''!" line that numerous people have used to imitate the equally numerous Bond Girls has actually been used very infrequently, probably about in only 1/3 of the films.* CaliforniaDoubling: So, so, common. For instance, basically every underwater scene will be shot at the Bahamas (where the original in ''Thunderball'' were done) even if the depicted sea is not the Caribbean.* FakeNationality:** For Bond himself, technically everybody except Creator/SeanConnery (as Bond's mother and father are canonically Swiss and Scottish respectively, and Bond is thus considered Scottish). Creator/GeorgeLazenby is Australian, Creator/PierceBrosnan is Irish, Creator/TimothyDalton is Welsh and Creator/RogerMoore and Creator/DanielCraig are both English. (Though really only Lazenby and Brosnan are not "[[BritainVersusTheUK British]]" in some sense). ** FakeRussian: Creator/WalterGotell, who played General Gogol, was a German actor.* FranchiseZombie: Roger Moore's contract was for five movies. Eventually he was convinced to do two more, even as Moore felt [[AgeLift he was getting too old for the role.]]* [[FountainOfExpies Iconic Characters]]: For movie audiences who first saw Bond in the 1990s, when Bond is mentioned, Creator/PierceBrosnan's incarnation has about as much recognition as the classic Connery original. Also because the generation that grew up with Brosnan as Bond also coincided with the branching of the franchise into [[TheMerch popular spin-off video games]], thereby increasing his exposure. ** Both Bond and Blofeld have often been used as templates for homages and parodies of secret agents and supervillains respectively by every form of media going.* IronyAsSheIsCast: According to Roger Moore's book ''Bond on Bond'', Desmond Llewelyn (Q from ''From Russia With Love'' through ''The World is Not Enough'') was a WalkingTechBane who couldn't get a ''[[{{EpicFail}} pocket calculator]]'' to work if his life depended on it.* MeanCharacterNiceActor: For a cold-blooded killer and womanizer, Bond has been played by [[Creator/RogerMoore humanitarian activists]], [[Creator/PierceBrosnan devoted family men]], and [[Creator/TimothyDalton easygoing charmers]] (with the exception of Creator/GeorgeLazenby, who then had a case of SmallNameBigEgo).* TheOtherDarrin:** Bond, obviously. But also other recurring characters such as M, Moneypenny, Blofeld, Felix (especially) and even Q between ''Film/DrNo'' and ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove''.* ThePeteBest: Contrary to popular belief, Creator/SeanConnery wasn't the first actor to portray James Bond. Barry Nelson, an American, played him first by a good eight years before Connery. He played James Bond as an American named "Jimmy Bond" in the Climax! adaptation of ''Casino Royale'' mentioned above. Both his portrayal, and the ''Climax'' episode at that, are barely even mentioned in most Bond related merch or books. The episode, a live broadcast, was considered [[MissingEpisode lost]] until a kinescope emerged in the 1980s almost 30 years after the fact. What makes him ThePeteBest though is that even when he had played him before, he wasn't even considered for the role for ''Film/DrNo'', although the fact he was American ''and'' older than Connery by almost thirteen years probably didn't help his case.** Sort of, Peter Burton played a character named Major Boothroyd in ''Film/DrNo'', before Desmond Llewelyn made the role as Q.* PromotedFanboy: ** Dalton was strongly influenced by the first three Bond films and drew heavily from the books for his portrayal.** Pierce Brosnan decided to become an actor after his parents took him to see ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' as a child, and has also mentioned being influenced by Roger Moore's performance in ''Series/TheSaint''.* RealLifeRelative: Pierce Brosnan's wife Cassandra Harris played Countess Lisl von Schlaff in ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly''. She even hoped that someday he'd get to be Bond. Unfortunately, she passed away before it came true.** Sean Connery's then-wife has stunt (particularly swimming) and stand-in parts in ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''.* RealitySubtext: Desmond Llewelyn's Q explains in ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' that he intends to retire and turn that John Cleese will replace him as quartermaster (much to Bond's disappointment). A few weeks after the film's release Desmond Llewelyn died in a car accident, tragically making this a definite farewell to the actor. -->'''Q:''' I've always tried to teach you two things: First, never let them see you bleed.-->'''Bond:''' And the second?-->'''Q:''' Always have an escape plan.-->''A trap door opens beneath Q, slowly lowering him out of sight as Bond sadly watches.''* ScrewedByTheLawyers: The film franchise has suffered two big ones. ** The first was the film adaptation of the first Bond novel, ''Literature/CasinoRoyale''. Fleming had sold the film rights to another producer, which eventually led to the [[Film/CasinoRoyale1967 parody adaptation]] by Columbia Pictures. Years later, as Columbia's parent company Sony threatened to make a rival Bond series using both ''Casino Royale'' and ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}'' (see below for more), they settled on giving the rights back to MGM/UA for MGM's partial rights to ''Film/SpiderMan1''. This led to the production of [[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 a more serious adaptation]] (ironically, distributed by Columbia due to MGM's everlasting problems).** The earliest films have a villainous organization called SPECTRE led by one Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Thing is, SPECTRE was invented in the original screenplay for ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', before it was released as a novel. A lawsuit over the publication of the ''Thunderball'' novel awarded screenwriter Kevin [=McClory=] the rights to SPECTRE (as he collaborated on the ''Thunderball'' screenplay). Although the first Bond films were allowed to use SPECTRE as part of a ten year agreement, the agreement expired and the filmmakers were not allowed to use the organization or its members. SPECTRE would disappear from the official Bond films for over forty years...until MGM/UA got the rights from [=McClory=]'s estate in 2013. SPECTRE was reintroduced to the Bond films with the movie ''Film/{{Spectre}}''* StarMakingRole: For Connery, Dalton and Craig. Bond also pulled Brosnan out of mediocrity following ''Series/RemingtonSteele''.* TechnologyMarchesOn: Given that it's a gadget-heavy series that spans over 50 years, it's bound to happen every now and again. However, the more high-tech, and therefore obviously fictional, a gadget was then the less likely it was to look silly in a few years.** ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' came close to invoking this by [[ProductPlacement featuring]] Blu-ray discs in several scenes before it was determined what the next-generation HD disc would be. Beyond that, however, the Creator/DanielCraig films appear to be intentionally averting this trope by rarely giving Bond anything more high-tech than a mobile phone to play with.*** However, ironically the real-life cell phone Bond uses in the 2006 film is already dated and outmoded, whereas some of his gadgets from the 1960s such as the rebreather from ''Thunderball'' or even Q's radioactive tracking lint in OHMSS, still come across as cutting-edge.** ''{{Film/Skyfall}}'' parodies it, with Bond's only gear besides his firearm being a simple radio transmitter, which for its size would have been cutting edge back in 1962, but could be built with parts from a Radio Shack nowadays.*** Director Sam Mendes explanation was that the most innovative gadgets they could think of were basically available in your local Apple store, so it was less ridiculous to avoid them entirely.* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ** Creator/StevenSpielberg always wanted to direct a James Bond movie, but Albert R. Broccoli rejected him twice. The first time, early in Spielberg's career, Broccoli turned him down because he was young, inexperienced, and unknown. He approached Broccoli again after directing ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', but Broccoli wouldn't hire him because he was afraid he'd demand too much money.*** The silver lining of this: Spielberg's despondency at being unable to shoot a ''Bond'' film inspired his good friend Creator/GeorgeLucas to create ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' for him.** They've also tried repeatedly to spin-off a series based on one of the various Bond Girls, describing it as something of a "Winter Olympics" alternative to the main films. They tried with Wai Lin from ''Tomorrow Never Dies'' and Jinx from ''Die Another Day'' .** ''Thunderball'' began its life as a screenplay written by Kevin [=McClory=], Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming (copyright dictates in that order). When the movie wasn't getting made, Fleming turned it into a book which led [=McClory=] to sue. As a result of the lawsuit, EON couldn't make ''Thunderball'' as the first Bond movie, so instead they went with ''Dr No''. This also lead to a long - lasting ScrewedByTheLawyers situation.** Both Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton were offered Bond at least ten years before they were able to take it. Creator/CaryGrant was also offered Dr No and Howard Hawks reportedly wanted to make a ''Casino Royale'' movie starring him, in the former case EON decided he was too old (Grant was in his late fifties at this point) and went with Sean Connery instead, and in the latter Hawks lost interest.** [[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/liam-neeson-turned-down-james-bond-role-to-marry-natasha-richardson-9176657.html Liam Neeson was courted to play Bond after Dalton, but he turned it down.]]** The biggest what could have been of them all: George Lazenby was originally going to be signed to do seven films, not just one, but his agent convinced him that Bond was a dated character that wouldn't last, and thus Lazenby decided to leave after ''OHMSS''. Lazenby fired his agent soon after, and till this day, freely admits he made a mistake.*** In a similar vein, the reason that Sean Connery got so pissed off with the Bond people ultimately had to do with working on ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. Ironically, he later said that he would've much preferred to do a Bond film like ''OHMSS''.*** Lazenby gives a different story in the documentary ''Everything or Nothing.'' In that, he says that EON Productions fired him after he showed up to the OHMSS premiere with shaggy hair and a beard when he was told not to, for not properly representing the brand.** There was a rumor that ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' director Lee Tamahori wanted to film a Sean Connery cameo, which would have confirmed that the James Bond name was just [[LegacyCharacter an alias passed down]] from character to character (thus explaining how each actor can be so different in the role), but he was ultimately overruled. (A favorite film theory is that Sean Connery’s character in ''Film/TheRock'' is actually his version of James Bond, tossed into the chokey after Moore took over.) The producers of ''{{Film/Skyfall}}'' also tried to coax Connery back, but he wouldn't hear of it.* TheWikiRule: [[http://jamesbond.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Here]] and [[http://www.jamesbondwiki.com/ here]].

!!Gunbarrel Openings

There have been 9 variations on the iconic gunbarrel opening[[note]]however, every gunbarrel scene has a different soundtrack, as the compilation videos on YouTube prove[[/note]]:

* The first one, with StuntDouble Bob Simmons as the Bond. This one was used from ''Film/DrNo'' to ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''. The "Bond" is actually a silhouette.* When the aspect ratio changed, the sequence had to be re-done. This version used Sean Connery, and was the first version to "expand" onto the screen. This edition was seen in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' and ''Film/DiamondsAreForever''. It was filmed in black-and-white, and a sepia tint was added for two of those movies.* Lazenby featured in the gunbarrel sequence only once. His Bond drops to one knee when firing and is wiped out by the blood.* Roger Moore was the first Bond to shoot the sequence twice--again, necessitated by an aspect ratio change. He's the first Bond to lose the hat, too. He's also the first Bond to don a tuxedo in the gunbarrel. Moore is also notable for being the only Bond that uses the Weaver stance when shooting--so he can be said to be the only Bond that employs proper firearm etiquette in the gunbarrel sequence.* Timothy Dalton filmed it once.* Pierce Brosnan filmed it twice actually, but the one he did when he was ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' was never used . ''Film/GoldenEye'' had the first digitally-generated gunbarrel. ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' had a CGI bullet added in (yuck), in celebration of the 40th anniversary.* Daniel Craig has done four different gunbarrels to this day.** To signify the reboot status in ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'', Craig's gunbarrel was actually incorporated into the opening sequence, with the blood now being opaque. It's the second gunbarrel to segue directly into the opening.** ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' featured a return of sorts to the "classic" form. It was now at the end of the movie, featured a different barrel and Craig became the first Bond to be shown walking away at the end. ** ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'''s gunbarrel was also featured at the end, in a different pose yet again.** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' once again puts the classic gunbarrel back at the start of the movie like it used to before ''Casino Royale''. This time Craig doesn't conceal the gun while walking. ----

!!!The series is the {{Trope Namer|s}} for:* BondColdOpen, also the {{Trope Maker}}* BondGunBarrel, also the {{Trope Maker}}* BondOneLiner* BondVillainStupidity* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine* ScaramangaSpecial* TheNameIsBondJamesBond

!!!This series is the ImageSource for:* BondGunBarrel* DistressedDude* RightHandCat* ScaramangaSpecial